Action | Prescribing opioids for pain management |
Stage | Emergency/NOIRA |
Comment Period | Ended on 6/14/2017 |
Having read the previous comments, I agree with each of their points and do not wish to reiterate all those points. I'll concur that there is an opiod problem which needs to be addressed. In general, acute dental pain management usually last just a few days. Therefore, the amount of a particular opiod that we would prescribe is generally 20 pills or under. The patients to which I would prescribe opiods are absolutely in need of them. Should their pain persist longer than the usual time period, then the provider should re-examine the patient and re-prescribe as necessary thus avoiding a hefty amount of pills being presribed initially. How many of these overdoses have been ascribed to dentally related prescriptions? Not to make an undue burden on our pharmacist collegues, but if there is a requirement for the use of naloxone, doesn't it make sense for the pharmacist to co-distribute the naloxone (along with the detailed instructions on how to use it to family members) as a standard protocol for those dosings in which the MME is much higher or the amount of distributed pill is much greater?